Las Vegas-based Station Casinos could hit a streak of bad luck as the gaming mecca's housing market cools and locals lose their urge to splurge.

OVER THE PAST FOUR years the Las Vegas real-estate market has been hotter than the Strip on a summer's afternoon. Median home prices have nearly doubled as a building boom has attracted hundreds of thousands of young, new residents eager to take a chance on life in the gambling mecca. And that's been great news for Station Casinos, which caters squarely to the locals.

The company, which owns and operates 12 casinos near residential areas beyond the Strip, and holds stakes in three more, has been on a classic roll. It has...